Virtualized network interfaces, such as virtualized channel adapters, are capable of being shared by multiple operating systems running, for instance, in different logical partitions of a logically partitioned computing environment. A virtualized network interface is a physical network interface that includes a plurality of logical network interfaces. A logical network interface is coupled to an operating system. The operating system may be coupled to one or more logical network interfaces, but a logical network interface is coupled to one operating system. One example of a virtualized network interface is the INFINIBAND® host channel adapter, which is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2004/0202189A1, entitled “Apparatus, System And Method For Providing Multiple Logical Channel Adapters Within A Single Physical Channel Adapter In A System Area Network,” Arndt et al., published Oct. 14, 2004, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
There may be a large number of logical network interfaces per a physical network interface. Therefore, dedication of hardware resources, like hardware performance counters, to each logical network interface is problematic. A virtualized physical network interface can consume large amounts of hardware resources, thereby limiting scalability of the design and increasing costs.
Thus, a need exists for a capability that enables the provision of performance counters for virtualized network interfaces, while minimizing the use of hardware resources.